1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for performing color correction on the basis of an image observation environment, and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, color image products have become ubiquitous, and color images have come to be handled with ease not only in special fields, such as design production using CG, but also in ordinary offices.
In general, when an image produced on a monitor is output by a printer, the colors of the image on the monitor and the printed image do not match each other, and it is difficult to carry out color studies of printed matter on a monitor. As a method for solving this mismatch, a color management system (CMS) has been devised and has attracted attention.
The color management system eliminates differences in colors for each device by using a common color space. In this color management system, under the precept that colors described at the same coordinates in the same color space can be seen the same, all the colors are represented in the same color space, and their corresponding coordinates are made to coincide with each other, thereby obtaining a coinciding appearance of colors. At present, as one of the more commonly used methods, there is a method in which a CIE-XYZ color space is used as the color space, and differences in each device are corrected by using XYZ tristimulus values, which are its internal description coordinate values.
Referring to FIG. 1, a description will be given of an environment for observing an image. In FIG. 1, a case is shown in which an image 202, which is the same as the object for printing 201, is displayed on a monitor 203.
A printed image and an image displayed on a CRT are not always observed under invariable ambient light, but ambient light 204 of FIG. 1 varies. In such a case, even if color matching can be obtained under a type of ambient light, the appearance of the image varies due to variation of the ambient light.
A first object of the present invention is to realize satisfactory color appearance regardless of an observation environment.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a satisfactory simulation image regardless of the observation environment of an output object and that of an object of display.
A third object of the present invention is to enable profile data which is used for an observation environment correction process to be managed efficiently in a systematic manner.
A fourth object of the present invention is to enable a color matching process based on information specified by a user to be performed efficiently in a systematic manner.
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing method for simulating an image output from an image output device in advance, the method comprising the steps of: performing a color correction process in accordance with an output object observation environment when an image output from the image output device is observed; and performing a color correction process on image data on which the color correction has been performed in accordance with an output object observation environment and a display object environment when a simulation image is observed.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting image data; performing a color correction process on the image data by using profile data; and performing an observation environment correction process on image data on which the color correction process has been performed, wherein color correction data, used for the color correction process, stored in the profile data, is corrected by observation environment correction data used for the observation environment correction process, and the color correction process and the observation environment correction process are realized by using the corrected data.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting image data; performing a color correction process on the image data by using profile data; and performing an observation environment correction process on image data on which the color correction process has been performed in accordance with an output image observation environment, wherein observation environment correction process data used for the observation environment correction process is added to the profile data independently of color correction data used for the color correction process.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus, comprising: an application section capable of communicating with a CMS framework API which performs control with a color management system as an operating system; and a color management module section for performing a color matching process by using a device profile in accordance with a command from the CMS framework API, wherein the application section corrects the device profile on the basis of information specified through a user interface section.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.